


Every Time It Rains

by parttimehuman



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Mild Angst, Rain, Softness, they kinda sorta get back together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 23:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19711759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parttimehuman/pseuds/parttimehuman
Summary: Every time it rains, Liam thinks about Theo.





	Every Time It Rains

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what this is except a feeling I had when it was raining and the writing itch I get sometimes. Enjoy.

Every time it rains, Liam thinks about Theo.

It was raining on that day when they met, a day that seems eternities away now. They were just kids back then, just boys. Clueless of what it meant when they fled underneath the same roof to wait for the storm to pass.

Things were simple all those years ago, if not easy. Liam couldn't help but let his eyes be drawn back to the stranger over and over. Theo couldn't stop smiling. Both of them were nervous, and both of them were awkward. Neither of them knew how to start a conversation, and neither of them knew why they even wanted to have one.

Theo offered to drive Liam home in his truck so he and his groceries wouldn't be drenched by the time he'd get home, and Liam lost his heart somewhere on the way from the store to his parents' house.

As Liam looks out through the window, he thinks that it looks exactly the same as all that time ago. Raindrops are racing each other down the window pane and the world has turned into a grey blur. As a kid, he used to feel safe inside in moments like the current one, used to wrap himself in a blanket and stare outside.

Now it almost hurts.

He's safe and warm inside, but Liam feels like it doesn't count for anything. He doesn't care for being safe and warm as much as he cares for Theo. And Theo, in that very moment, could be anywhere.

A thousand times or more, Liam has warned Theo not to drive in this weather. A thousand times or more, Theo has answered with nothing but a smile because he didn't want to say no to Liam. Liam remembers insisting that it's dangerous, and he remembers Theo whispering back, "Many things are dangerous."

As a seventeen-year-old who didn't know that love had anything to do with what was happening, Liam used the rain as an excuse to call Theo and ask him to pick him up. To be driven home and then invite Theo in so they could both warm up.

Every time it rains, Liam makes the same tea that Theo used to like.

It smells like apples in his kitchen, and Liam wants to inhale the scent of beautiful memories more than he wants to actually have tea. He goes to the closet in his bedroom and pulls out a hoodie he isn't supposed to still be holding onto, but can't let go. As long as the sun is shining, he doesn't need it. Doesn't need to bury his nose in it and feel its fluffiness between his fingers, doesn't need to pull it over his head and watch how the sleeves swallow his hands.

Liam thinks about afternoons spent by the window and nights spent cuddling. About the sound of a heartbeat and the feeling of a pair of arms wrapped around his body. He thinks about lightning and thunder, how the flashes of light reflected in Theo's eyes and his hold tightened around Liam every time he jumped from the noise.

Theo never minded the rain. Not like other people, who ran and hid. He liked the smell of wet grass and he liked to have the roads to himself. He liked to sit in his truck and watch the town that never loved him disappear behind curtains of rain. He liked to listen to the pattering on the truck's roof. Liam was there with him, sometimes, but he never quite got it. Maybe, he thinks now, he never quite got Theo.

Yet, on a day like this, he can’t pretend like he doesn’t still care. He can’t pretend like Theo’s face isn’t the only thing he sees as he looks out of the window even if he isn’t there, hasn’t been there in a long time, probably will never return. Liam knows in his head that his longing leads nowhere except to more pain, but in his heart, it doesn’t matter. In his heart, Theo is missing and it’s all he can think about. 

Remembering always hurts, because memories are never enough. Almost having everything he ever wanted isn’t enough. Theo as a part of his past life isn’t enough. The hoodie isn’t enough to make him feel warm and inside his apartment isn’t where he needs to be. 

Liam can’t take it anymore, so he runs. Theo’s hoodie is soaked ten seconds after he leaves the building and it weighs heavy on his shoulders. Liam’s hair is wet and the rain pours down his face like tears. His hands are cold and his feet frozen, his heart beating too slowly to still feel alive, but he’ll run until that changes. 

Down the street he grew up in and around a corner, through mud and puddles and slippery grass. The driver inside a car almost doesn’t see him and as the tires make an ugly screeching sound and Liam’s heart skips a beat there’s finally something, something that feels wrong in one way and yet so right in another, something that makes the hair on his arms stand and carries his further into a specifically chosen direction. 

When Liam’s lungs are burning, he feels like he can finally breathe. When his muscles are aching and the cold rain shoots pins and needles into his limbs, his heart stops clenching. When the world has disappeared in a blur, Liam regains focus on the one thing that matters. 

He’s almost there, and Liam’s heart is racing. He’s almost there, and he can’t stop until it will be broken again. One last corner and too much speed, an almost-fall. The old little grocery store. Right there. In front of Liam’s searching eyes. The roof that hangs lower now that it used to. 

And a blue truck parked not far from it. Through the rain, what Liam sees is just the shadow of a human person. Really, it could be anyone, but he knows it’s not. It’s the boy he knows better than he knows himself, even if Theo isn’t a boy anymore now, even if the years apart could have turned him into someone entirely else. 

Not running anymore, Liam closes the distance, slowly stepping towards the roof and the little dry spot beneath it. The shadow that he used to know stiffens, tenses up, but it doesn’t move away. Liam stands in front of him, staring, taking in the new wrinkles around the same old green eyes and the new clothes on the same old strong shoulders and the new shock mixed with the old familiarity. 

Liam could punch him in the face for leaving, or pin him against the wall and kiss him breathless, or turn around and walk away. He could laugh or cry or yell at Theo, but in the end, he does nothing. He stands and stares, barely remembering how to breathe. Theo does the same. 

“Hey,” someone says finally, voice soft and low, unsteady. It’s probably Liam. It sounds more like Liam. 

Theo purses his lips, looking at him the same way that used to amuse Liam, eyes roaming him, seemingly searching although Liam never knew what for. 

“You’re gonna be sick,” Theo finally says. His voice sounds just like it used to. He takes a step back until he’s almost not safe from the rain himself anymore, making room for Liam in his shelter. It’s not what Liam expected to hear from him in case they’d ever meet again, but it’s not an escape, not a lie he thinks he’s telling for Liam’s sake, none of that old bullshit. Maybe it has to do with regret. 

“Every time it rains, I think about you,” Liam hears himself saying. It’s the confession of everything he feels now even more strongly than the day Theo left. 

Theo nods and looks down. They’re standing so close that it’s hard to look anywhere except each other’s face, sharing the little space that remains dry, but the truth is that they could be a whole world apart like they’ve been for years, and yet they’re right here. Because the rain, to both of them, is more than water pouring from the clouds and cold air on their skin. 

“Every time it was raining, I was afraid you would,” Theo whispers. 

“But you’re here,” Liam says. 

_ But you knew I would anyway.  _

_ But you wanted me to.  _

_ But you came back.  _

_ But you love me.  _

Again, Theo nodded, eyes slowly drifting up, a tear threatening to fall from the left one. 

“I’m here.” 

It’s all that Liam needs. He frees his hands from the too long, too heavy sleeves of the hoodie and brings them up to Theo’s cheeks, watches the single tear making its way down Theo’s face until it’s just another drop that’s helped soak his sweater. 

Slowly, Liam leans forward, giving Theo an out with every inch he comes closer, getting near without really moving. The tension leaves Theo’s body one breath at a time. There’s a scent Liam recognizes immediately, and a kind of warmth that comes from proximity that he’s been craving for too long. 

Liam wants to kiss Theo but they need a moment for their foreheads to brush against each other first, for their fingers to grab at each other’s neck and clothes, for their lips to tremble and their hearts to synchronize. Liam rubs his cheek against Theo’s and Theo makes a sound that has Liam weak at the knees.

Neither of them really moves but they still kiss eventually. It’s a careful brush of lips first, followed by a break for breathing and pulling oneself together, for finding the courage to move on and the composure not to fall apart. The next time they add pressure to their gentleness, and one kiss at a time, all their longing unveils through the impatience of their searching mouths and pulling hands. 

Who even know how much time has passed when they pull apart again? 

“Every time it rains,” Theo says, “I regret that I left you.” 

Liam takes his hands and intertwines their fingers. They fit like puzzle pieces that were always meant to be connected again. 

“Every time it rains,” he replies, “I regret that I let you.” 


End file.
